


Sitting With You

by parchmentandpencils



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Astronomy Tower, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Good Draco Malfoy, Hogwarts, Hope, Pre-Slash, Sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-22 03:07:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20867189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parchmentandpencils/pseuds/parchmentandpencils
Summary: Harry likes to sit alone. At night. Coincidentally, it’s the top of the astronomy tower. Draco Malfoy has been watching him and decides one night to sit with him.(This is not a slash btw)





	Sitting With You

Harry couldn’t sleep. And whenever he couldn’t sleep, he liked to walk. So it was no fault of his own when his feet automatically took him to the top of the astronomy tower again, just to sit down, as he had been doing for the past few weeks.

He supposed it had all started when he started having nightmares about Cedric’s death again when his convenient stash of Dreamless Sleep potions had run out at the start of September. Harry thought it was because he had forgotten to sneak more out of the hospital wing, since he took enough potions to last the holidays and then some, so Madam Pomfrey had put up wards to deter her mysterious thief.

The whistling of the wind brought Harry back to himself. He had slid down a pillar not too far from the edge of the tower, where he had no shield against the elements. Every drop of rain, every puff of air that ran through his hair, every beam of moonlight on a cloudless night, he felt it all.

He also felt the dull pain that had become part of his being, that thrummed with his heartbeat. It was like they were part of each other: without one, you could not have the other.

Harry laid down the blanked Marauders Map and set his wand on top so it would not blow away. He curled his cloak around himself and just sat. It was so peaceful when you could get away from from the accusing stares, from the sneers from Severus Snape, from the childish giggles that covered hateful flares of Umbridge, from the pitying glances of his friends.

He didn’t need this.

Harry’s scar prickled, but he hardly noticed. After a thousand lines with a blood quill, you hardly noticed a tiny prickling of a facial disfigurement that led people to love you or hate you.

If Harry had bothered to pay more attention to his surroundings, or if he had bothered to activate the map, he would have noticed a pale head of blond hair just watching him.

***

Draco Malfoy was perplexed. He had been climbing the stairs to the astronomy tower to be alone, to get away from the company of the female population of Slytherin, who wouldn’t leave him alone. Pansy in particular, was fawning over him, because this was the year he was to search out girls for a betrothal, as the Malfoy family believed in Draco choosing someone for himself. After all, Lucius did choose Narcissa instead of a readymade betrothal, and look how in love _they_ were! Pansy seemed to think it was going to be her. All the girls thought it was going to be them. Well, apart from the Greengrass sisters. They were sitting in a corner, doing homework, indifferent. He had then decided he was probably going to propose to one of them, or to a girl from a different House, just to piss them all off.

Eventually, he couldn’t take any of their advances anymore and escaped, the giggles of Astoria reaching his ears. He gave a slight smile, then decided to head to the Astronomy tower. After all, no one would be there... or so he thought.

He cast a whispered “_Homenum Revelio_”, and frowned at the result. He crept up the stairs, and rounded the corner to see... _Potter_?

Draco decided to stay and listen for a while. He watched as Potter’s owl landed on his knee gently, then gave a croon.

“Hey, Hedwig,” Potter said. Why did he sound so... sad?

The newly named “Hedwig” barked softly, and nudged Potter’s hand.

“I know, Hed, I should probably be in bed, but I just can’t sleep. How can I? Every time I close my eyes I see Cedric’s face. You saw how I couldn’t sleep this past summer, but I still functioned. I still did all the chores, got hit by Aunt Petunia’s cast iron skillet once when I fell asleep in the garden because I could barely stand. I still managed to cast that Patronus charm to save Dudley, and look where that got me. I almost got kicked out of the house. Blood protections my-.”

He yelped when Hedwig pecked him.

“OUCH- sorry Hedwig! I won’t complete that sentence!”

Hedwig settled on Potter’s arm again. He stood up abruptly.

“I think I’ve stayed here for long enough. Let me take you to the Owlry, and then I can get to bed.”

Hedwig cuffed Potter around the ear.

“YES Hedwig I know you can fly! I just wanted a detour! Fine, I’ll go back to the Tower! Goodnight.”

Draco silenced his footsteps and disillusioned himself as he went back down the Tower as quickly as possible. As fun as it was watching Potter’s owl scold him, it wouldn’t be as much fun getting caught.

***

The next few nights, Draco followed Harry to the Tower, and watched him talk to his owl. He talked about Sirius Black, the escaped - and apparently innocent - convict, Remus Lupin, who apparently was living with Sirius, but Harry suspected they were in love with each other... _Hang on, when did Potter become Harry? _He’d figure that out later... Harry also talked about Ron Weasley’s jealousy and strong friendship nonetheless, Neville Longbottom’s subduedness when they talked about their families, Hermione Granger’s nagging about exams (Draco thought she sounded like Pansy) and her growing crush on Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley’s attempts to come onto him, but he wasn’t really interested, and more. Draco found himself becoming more and more interested in the life of Harry Potter.

Then the day came when Hedwig was injured. There was no one to talk to for Harry, so on the 7th October he sat there and just withdrew into himself. It hurt Draco to see Harry with a few tears trickling down his face slowly. It was plain to see for Draco that Harry was hurting. He only knew this because he had slowly been getting to know Harry for the past month, despite Harry not knowing.

So Draco slipped up the rest of the stairs for the first time at night and slid down beside Harry, putting an arm around him, and pulling him close.

As expected, Harry flinched and drew back as if burnt.

“Malfoy!”

“Yes, Ha-Potter?”

“What are you doing here?!”

“I have a confession to make. Over the past month, I saw you sat up here...” Draco slowly explained everything, scared of Harry’s reaction.

“And I suppose you shared everything with your Slytherin cohorts? I shouldn’t have expected different from a death eater’s child!” Harry laughed bitterly, then stormed out, throwing a “And don’t even come near me, death eater scum!” over his shoulder.

Draco closed his eyes, collapsed to the floor, and thought of how unusual it was that he was the one up here instead of Harry.

***

For the next month, Draco continued to make trips to the Tower, but instead of Harry being there, he was the one who sat there and contemplated on this falling apart mess he called his life.

***

For the next month, Harry constantly silently berated himself for being so cruel. If the Slytherin had heard about it, they would have certainly spread it around the school by now.

He watched the Map every night, and snuck to the astronomy tower, trying to screw up the courage that never came, in order to go up to the top and comfort Draco instead. He saw Draco sitting like him, feeling helpless and uncomforted. He saw him talk about injustices that made Harry want to cry for Draco.

He never got the courage to do anything else until the Gryffindor Slytherin quidditch match.

Draco insulted Ron and his family, but Harry could tell they were just hateful words spoken in anger. Despite that, Harry could not quell the rising anger in him, and tried to slap Draco across the face, to make him see sense. Harry got banned from Quidditch anyway.

Later that night, Harry was sure that Draco was up the astronomy tower, so he crept up too under the shelter of his cloak, and the Map clutched firmly in his hand.

Harry felt a sense of Deja vu as he slid next to Draco and put a careful arm around him, his heart breaking at the hopeless look on Draco’s face. Harry knew that look. It was the look he wore whenever things had hit rock bottom.

Instead of pulling away like Harry thought, Draco leaned into the embrace and started to sob, burying his head in Harry’s chest. It was as if a dam had broken and the tears were flooding out of him.

Harry rested his chin on Draco’s head and silently wept as well. They both wept for everything, for all the slurs they had called and were called, all the things they said to each other that were way out of line, Harry’s loveless childhood and Draco’s future, where there was nothing but a Dark Mark destined for him. They wept for each other.

When Draco’s wracking sobs had stopped, he raised his head, tears still streaming down his face.

Then they waited for each other to say something. Harry went first.

“I-I’m so sorry D-Draco... I hurt you s-so bad when we last met here, I-I just stormed off and I insulted y-you and I c-couldn’t find the courage to- to come and apologise and I-I-I...” Harry broke off in a stuttering mess, tears still running. He took a breath and tried again.

“I called you a death eater’s child like you were the lowest... lowest scum on earth, and I-I don’t know how to apologise, you must have hurt so-so badly... I snuck up to watch you too, but G-Gryffindor bravery failed me and-and I couldn’t come! I couldn’t apologise! I couldn’t...”

Draco had calmed down at this point too.

“You weren’t completely wrong that day, I was about to tell the Slytherins about Cedric so we could have a laugh about it, but... but I didn’t. I came back, and I kept listening to you, probably much like you did, and you looked so betrayed when I told you... but then you called me a death eater’s child. If you didn’t leave, I would probably have cast a deadly curse at you or something. And I wouldn’t know how I would live with myself if I tortured you into insanity or killed you. I won’t lie, the only thing left in my future is a Dark Mark, but I don’t want it and I-I’d probably get disowned if I didn’t get it... the only person who I could have talked about it to would be you, but then you l-left. Y-you left... and suddenly I was all alone, and you almost never came back. I thought that the remark about Weasley’s mother would have got you to come up here, so I waited... and you came. I-I’m so sorry...”

And suddenly Draco was crying again, and Harry had to strain his ears for the next words. “I-i-if you hadn’t come t-t-tonight, I w-w-would have k-killed myself.”

“I’m so so so sorry Draco...” Harry apologised over and over again while the blond clung to him. After all, they’d done the same thing to each other, but Draco was much more forgiving. It made Harry ashamed to even think about all the pain he caused Draco by his words, but Draco had still forgiven him. After all, he had caused Draco so much more pain that Draco had given him.

They sat like that, watching the sun rise, each knowing that that incident had caused them to understand each other that much more. And now they could definitely say they were no longer enemies, because no enemies would ever wipe away each other’s tears.

They had developed a comradeship that might develop into something more, even if none of the emotionally exhausted boys knew it at that moment in time.

_Fin_

**Author's Note:**

> Is this too over the top? How did I do?


End file.
